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CA - Jeff Joseph, 45, Hoopa, 21 June 2014

Family of a missing Louisiana man believe he was on his way to Arcata when he disappeared. Family members have repeatedly tried to contact the missing man with no response. The man, Jeff Joseph has missed airplane flights, meetings and personal appointments that were believed to be important to him.

According to family and friends, on Friday, June 20, Jeff Joseph (photo right) left Southern California and headed north towards Humboldt County. Joseph currently lives in Louisiana but frequently came back to the West Coast to visit family. When he was on this side of the country, he would often travel to our area.

According to his brother, David Joseph, Jeff flew into California on the 16th. Then after visiting with family until the 20th, he told an uncle that he was headed to Arcata and then afterwards, he said, he would go on to Eureka. He never arrived at his destination.

Jeffís last cell phone call was on the morning of June 21. (He last accessed his email about the same time.) The family was able to access his phone records and believes he made the cell phone call from Redding. David Joseph says a family member has spoken to the person who was contacted during that call. The person called verified that Jeff Joseph was the person they spoke to.

He was last seen driving a green 1998 Toyota Rav4 with an LSU sticker on the back window. The vehicle has a Louisiana license plate, number XMO62. (See photo below for a vehicle, that while not his, looks similar to the one he was driving.)

If anyone has any information about Jeff Joseph or his vehicle, they can call their local law enforcement agency or contact the family by email (findjeffjoseph@outlook.com) or phone (either call 504-236-5321 or 805-368-2600.)

The family is asking that our readers share the story via social media in hopes that as many people as possible will be looking for their loved one.

The route he would have taken from Redding to Arcata is Highway 299, mostly two lane and following the Trinity River. The trip is 180 miles and would take about 3.5 hours. There are some treacherous parts, so it would be wise to drive the route looking for skid marks or other disturbances along the shoulder. A car isn't always visible from the road if there has been an accident.

There are no entries on his timeline since January, although the Jeff Joseph Missing FB page has been liked. Based on his eclectic likes, he's a libertarian and in favor of legalizing marijuana. He has worked for a hemp fabric company and, according to his photos, was involved in a marijuana growing collective in LA that was raided in 2009 or 2010.

Depending on his involvement in marijuana cultivation and/or selling, and who he was planning to see in Humboldt county, there is a chance that he is at risk. Growers there can be ruthless. People disappear in Humboldt.

Obviously, this is only one possibility, but it can't be overlooked IMO.

ETA: According to a comment from a friend on the Find Jeff page, a mutual friend of theirs went missing and was murdered. I assume it was in Humboldt, because the administrator replied that they are aware of what goes on up there, but are trying to keep the page positive.

According to the FB page 9 hours ago, they are now on a full search by airplane. 4 cops searching Humboldt county. They are looking hard and they are looking into phone numbers and will update every 20 mins. Another friend who has a rafting company will be looking while out on the river. A good part of that highway is in Trinity county so I hope help is coming from there too.

DISCLAIMER: Consider this rumor because it comes from comments on the LoCO article in the past hour. Jeff's family is posting and confirming and denying some posts.

Jeff has property in Weitchpec. LE is aware of it and family is working closely with LE. Commenters are concerned because this is a pot-growing area near the Hoopa Indian Reservation. Take it all with a grain of salt, but it doesn't sound good.

the 299 is a hard road to drive- many places to go off.
same road jennifer wilmner went missing from in the mid 90's.

Yes, it is a tough road. And if he went to Weitchpec, he would have turned north at Willow Creek where Jennifer Wilmer disappeared, onto 96 along the Trinity River through the Hoopa reservation. Then he would have gotten on 169 along the Klamath River for an unknown distance in the Yurok reservation. These are both narrow, two-lane roads.

Weitchpec is beautiful, but scary, like backwoods scary... IMO. It's Bigfoot country!
I was a Native American Studies major at Humboldt State University, such a beautiful place.

Do you think this will have to do with Russian Cartel and La Cosa Nostra?
just speculating

Oh good. Someone else who knows how scary Humboldt/Trinity backwoods can be! I haven't lived there in 30 years (it was scary then), so I couldn't begin to speculate. But someone on LoCO threw that idea out there and was shot down by family. It just depends on what, if anything, Jeff was involved in up there. Or if he had the misfortune of encountering someone growing on his property. Or cooking meth. Or just misjudged a turn on the road. I hope his family can find him. It's horrible not to ever know.

As an interesting side story on Cook and Associates, they were also hired by the family of Garrett Rodriguez who disappeared last year when he came from San Diego to Southern Humboldt to work on a medical marijuana grow. Last December a local group of vigilantes, who have become known as the Alderpoint 8, obtained a confession and the location of the Garrett's grave at gunpoint. They notified PI Cook, and his remains were recovered. As far as I know, there has not been an arrest.

I wonder if Garrett was the friend of Jeff's who disappeared and was murdered, according to a comment on the FB page.